Is 54:4-8   “Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.  For your Maker is your Husband; YHVH of Hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole Earth!     For YHVH has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a youthful wife when you were refused,” says your God.  “For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you.  With a little wrath I hid My face from you, but with everlasting lovingkindness I will have mercy on you,” says YHVH, your Redeemer.   

Gen 2:24; Dt 30:20   the man is to cling to his wife; Israel is to cling to YHVH God  

Covenant:  I am your God and you are My people. 
                          I am your husband.  I am your wife.  
                         You are my wife.  You are my husband.   

The marriage covenant is based upon YHVH God’s covenant with Israel and the nations.  God relates to Israel as a partner in covenant:  YHVH is the Husband; Israel His Bride (Jer 31:32).   

Idolatry by God’s people – whether Jews or Christians – is called adultery (Ja 4:3-5), because breaking the covenant with our own God is like breaking our marriage [vows] to Him.   

The marriage covenant of God and of man – at least in Jewish/Christian heritage – includes the promise of the stronger party to protect the weaker (1Pt 3:7).  It is a promise, a vow, an oath:  God and husbands are to give our wives peace and security in our love, in our marriage.  The nation, the wife, is to submit to that love and faithfulness to her husband as unto the Lord.   

Praise God for His New Covenant – a better covenant – by which all conflicts, even within marriages, will cease!